View from Auckland Harbor
After our five days of surfing adventures ended Katie and I returned to Auckland and checked The Quadrant Hotel. Our room was not exactly a hotel, rather it was a great one bedroom condo complete with a washer/dryer (and awesome convenience during the middle of our trip). Our only complaint was the Japanese karaoke bar downstairs – we should have asked for a room higher up in the hotel.
We spent a lot of time wandering the town on foot, eating when we got hungry (primarily seafood, fruit, bread, brie and wine) (ok, lots of wine) and shopping when we saw any interesting stores (the $1 USD to $2 NZD exchange rate really helped). Katie picked up a dress and some accessories while I purchased an awesome pinstripe suit at Debut and a New Zealand cycling jersey from BikeCentral. Katie and I also hired a pair of city cruiser bikes from BikeCentral to tour the shoreline bike path; apparently the road we took was a major Saturday morning group road ride route. Seeing as it had been about a week since we had been on bikes the ride was extremely refreshing and a nice reminder for our legs with the coming mountain biking adventure.
Katie and Dan in the Harbor
We ventured out to the Auckland Aquarium via the public bus system. Having no idea where we were headed we were pleased when one of the many random friendly locals gave us instructions on which buses to take (I have to credit the local population as everyone was extremely cheery, polite, and helpful; New Zealand really makes you feel welcome). The aquarium was housed in a converted water treatment facility – a novel way to rejuvenate an unused structure! While small and definitely designed towards families with young children, Katie and I enjoyed watching the penguins and other sea creatures flop and swim around. We also took a ferry ride out on the harbor – the views were amazing. Following the ferry, Katie and I stopped at an interesting bar – Macs Northern Steamship Brewbar – they hung lamps from the ceiling.
Northern Steamship Brews
When thoroughly exhausted and back at the hotel we discovered the joys of New Zealand television. We actually did not watch that much but the NZ made music videos were memorably awesome. And I really enjoyed watching rugby – a fantastic sport that seemed to be on 24-7.
Our three day stop in Auckland was a wondrously relaxing pause between our surfing and mountain biking/fly fishing adventures.
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